Windows 7 is newer and better than Windows XP — but are the differences important enough to switch? In this article, Windows expert Mark Edward Soper, author of Easy Microsoft Windows 7, gives you ten important reasons to make the move from Windows XP to Windows 7.

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If you're planning to switch from Windows XP to Windows 7, you already know that you'll be facing a vastly different operating system. But besides being different, how is Windows 7 better than Windows XP? As a veteran user of both Windows versions, I want to show you 10 ways that Windows 7 is much better than its older sibling.

#10: More Intuitive Control Panel Categories

Many Windows XP users found Control Panel's default Category view so confusing that they switched to the Classic View. While you can still view all Control Panel icons in Windows 7's version of Control Panel in either Small or Large Icons view, you'll find that almost any task you want to perform is easy to find in the default Category view (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 Windows 7's Control Panel categories provide fast access to the most common tasks.

Click the links beneath each category to go directly to common tasks, or open the category to perform other tasks. Some tasks are located in multiple categories to reduce the need to click around.